Colorado Springs, CO (July 22, 2022) – The Switchbacks FC saw their first draw of the season Friday night as they ended even at three goals a piece with Charleston Battery at Weidner Field.
The Battery began the scoring quickly as they solved Switchbacks keeper Christian Herrera just five minutes into play. Herrera would be up to the second wave of offense in the 20th minute as he made a big save to keep the Charleston lead at a single goal.
Colorado Springs’ attack would get a jumpstart from the back end when a drop pass found defender Matt Mahoney for an open look to score. Mahoney put his shot just over the crossbar and the Battery was able to keep their narrow lead for the time being. In the 24th minute, though, a charging Michee Ngalina beat the defense on a give and go from Mahoney before crossing a great ball to Elvis Amoh who had a wide open net for the equalizer. Soon after that Charleston was tested again when COS captain Hadji Barry found himself one on one with the keeper. Barry tried to put a late touch in, but Hugo Fauroux was up to the challenge, maintaining the tie into the half.
Charleston would start fast once again, as they found the net in the 52nd minute to restore the one goal lead, but the Switchbacks were poised to respond. Just minutes after subbing on for his debut, Jairo Henriquez introduced himself to the Pikes Peak region with a great forward ball to Barry who put the Switchbacks back even with his 75th career strike. Henriquez found the scoresheet again just five minutes later perfectly placing a penalty kick just inside the left post, giving the Switchbacks their first lead. It appeared that Michee Ngalina would all but ensure the victory for Colorado Springs in the 90th minute when he netted a smooth shot in the top right corner, but a late offside call kept the goal off the board. The call proved to be significant as Battery captain AJ Paterson beat Herrera in stoppage time, a goal that took two points away from Colorado Springs for the night.
The Switchbacks head to Phoenix for a weekend match with the Rising FC. The team will not return to Weidner Field until August 12th when they host El Paso Locomotive. Tickets to that match, and all other matches, are available HERE.